OCE rostermania: KZG, Mindfreak overhaul rosters; DXA makes return

Top Oceanic CS2 teams KZG and Mindfreak are among those who have made some big roster changes in the "offseason" of late as Rostermania strikes the region.

Following the qualifiers for the Austin Major, teams that missed out on a ticket to the big show in Texas have pulled the trigger on the roster have made some massive roster changes. Not only that, a familiar org in the region is making its grand return to CS in OCE.

Here's our wrap-up of OCE CS2 roster changes for May!

KZG drops former Arcade trio, picks up new young core

KZG have recently dropped the "Arcade 3", removing Michael "Kras" Krasnoff, Jayden "foggers" Graham, and coach Ronan "TRIPLUS" Storay who were on the roster for the past five months.

Longtime KZG pillar Jayden "Hassie" Hasse has also left KZG, choosing to has step away from the game in the interim.

The changes come after a period of mediocre results for the KZG lineup. Their failure to qualify for the DFRAG Invitational at the hands of Justice For Tomorrow, a 13-16th place at the ACL qualifiers, and relegation from ECL has culminated in drastic changes for KZG.

The org has replaced the trio with an interesting group, bringing back former IGL Ming “Mingovi” O'Mallon alongside youngsters Michael "mpr" Philip and Lachlan “BELLY” Bell.

The pickup of “mpr” is interesting to see; the longtime ESEA Open prodigy has been an outstanding talent in the lower levels of OCE, showing promise beyond his experience.

The pickup of “BELLY” is a bit of a curve ball. BELLY previously repped Altered Edge and showed off his firepower; however, after being removed from the roster, he seems to have been bouncing around ESEA Open with no real team to call home. KZG hopes BELLY will develop his game alongside Mingovi.

Realistically, KZG seem to be building a long-term project with this roster, but DFRAG has learned veteran members Sam "Samuukxs" Hensel and Bailey "Estate" Tobin have been weighing up retirement and are unwilling to go through the rebuilding process.

"Estate and I plan to stop playing Counter-Strike competitive at the end of the ESEA season," Samuukxs said to DFRAG. "Our goal is to help get the boys back into ECL before we assess what we want to do with our Counter-Strike careers. It's been a long four years grinding, and we both feel pretty burnt out."

We'll see where KZG leans in the coming weeks.

Mindfreak presses hard reset, tucks to lead new group

The Mindfreak project has hit the hard reset button, with Tyler “tucks” Riley the only player to survive after the benching of Maclane "gump" Cross, Kristian “pain” Isaac's retirement, and Matthew "texta" O'Rourke & Ethan “Crunchy” Laker choosing to step away from the team.

The rebuild is already underway, picked up former Vantage star rifler Buğra "swerzieN" Budak alongside one of the better ESEA Open support rifles in Kai “kairo” Brooks and Blazing Beaver talent Jye "Zune" Pollock.

Nothing official has come out of the Mindfreak camp, but unconfirmed reports seem to suggest they are still looking for a fifth to finish out the roster. One name that has consistently popped up in discussions has been former Housebets rifler Jack “Omichella” McLoughlin, but this is pure speculation.

DFRAG reached out to swerzieN and Mindfreak owner Michael Carmody, both of whom did not wish to comment on the team's future.

DXA makes return, picking up Canon Event

DXA is back, announcing they have picked up Canon Event. While the rumour mill had been spinning since IEM Melbourne, all talk has been put to rest as DXA made it official on X/Twitter on May 15.

The roster will be led by Reegan “Crackbaby” Bell, with the org stating “this is a new DXA Generation of Counter-Strike” as they move away from the former Antony "kiyo" Frilingos led teams from the past.

The expectation is that Crackbaby will take the mantle of IGL with a group that is “happy to represent such a good and established org and now our focus is on making ECL.”

The new team sees the confirmation of new talent Aaron “Stinky” Bretherton and Zach “Zacheraay” Velyvis as DXA looks to bolster with more firepower by picking up some solid rifle players.

Its going to be exciting to see how this new DXA roster performs with support from former CS 1.6 player and DXA owner Chris “Monitor303” Robson.

JFT rumored to bring in former KZG rifler Kras

JFT has been a team no stranger to roster changes, bringing in some of the most underhyped (and overhyped) talent from the collegiate CS2 community. Recent roster changes have seen a major renewal in the direction of the team.

IGL Mitch “LarkoTaco” Douglas has brought in some of the best FPL talent in the region, including the likes of Broja “BROJVHS” Ostrofski and AWPer Oliver “vanillaicey” Marshall who look to bolster the squad.

They're replacing the outgoing duo Jingxi “bixiaoxi” Bi and Cheng “xc” Xing. The move is a smart one if LarkoTaco decides to keep the roster together long term, otherwise this may just be another flash-in-the-pan team for JFT.

The major move JFT is rumoured to have made is bringing in former KZG star rifler Kras to replace Jevons “COOOOOOFFEE” Chen. The move would see some much needed experience come into the lineup. At the time of writing, it seems that Kras is on trial and may be sporting a new team entirely.

Stay tuned to DFRAG closer to the start of ECL to make sure your up to date with the latest in OCE CS2!